These guidelines cover the style of language and writing to be used in Ireland-related articles. This includes both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. If you disagree with the conventions described here, or wish to add to them, please discuss it on the talk page. Major changes relating to contentious issues with a north–south dimension, particularly Derry–Londonderry and Ireland–Republic of Ireland, should be discussed at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ireland Collaboration before any amendments to the Manual of Style are considered.

Once the article name is established, any alternative name for the locale should be provided on the first line of the article (whether or not the name is widely used). Also add it to the appropriate field in the infobox. The remainder of the article should use only the place name as titled in the article. An exception to this is when a portion of the article is providing information specific to the naming of the place.

When mentioning other locales in the context of the article, conform to the rules for article titling above but do not include the alternative name along with it. An exception might be in the case of a name that is unlikely to have an article of its own. However, if a place name is significant enough to warrant both an English and an Irish name, it is probably significant enough for an article of its own, however brief.

For articles on places on the island of Ireland, show the modern name in English, Irish and, if appropriate, Scots in the infobox if the article has one.

For places in the Republic of Ireland, other names should be shown in parentheses immediately after the common name in the lead. For places in Northern Ireland, only show non-English-language names in parentheses after the bolded name if the name in that language demonstrates the origin of the common name. Other names and etymologies can be described in the body of the article (after the lead, if the article has one).

The meaning of non-English place names should be given if known. All such meanings should be fully cited. For names that appear in the lead, provide the meaning in parenthesis immediately after the common name. Otherwise, provide the meaning in the body of the article (after the lead, if the article has one).

For places in Northern Ireland whose names are derived from English, the other names should only appear in the infobox along with a source.

Generally speaking, contemporary names should reflect contemporary spelling. All place names given should be attributable to reliable sources. If different sourced modern versions exist, i.e. Tulach Lios or Tulaigh Lis, a website (www.logainm.ie) developed by the Placenames Branch of the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs in the Republic of Ireland, and used by the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, can be used to provide a generally accepted spelling – in this case Tulaigh Lis. This site lists the official English and Irish forms of place names within the Republic of Ireland. The Irish names it lists for places within Northern Ireland do not have legal status. They are, however, used by the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland to produce authoritative Irish versions of place names in Northern Ireland.

When entering counties into Wikipedia use the full term County, not Co or Co.. The use of Co. is generally localised to Ireland and not always understood by the global community. For example, write County Galway, not Co. Galway or [[County Galway|Co. Galway]].

Use the full county name (i.e. County X) when referring to counties, rather than abbreviating to short name (i.e. X). There are normally towns or cities within a county after which the county was named. Use the "short name" to refer only to that place (i.e. County Galway vs. Galway).

To avoid constant renaming of articles (and more), keep a neutral point of view, promote consistency in the encyclopedia, and avoid Stroke City-style terms perplexing to those unfamiliar with the dispute. A compromise solution was proposed and agreed in 2004 regarding the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, and has been generally accepted as a convention for both article titles and in-article references since then.

A consensus emerged with respect to referring to the island and the state in other contexts:

Use "Ireland" for the state except where the island of Ireland or Northern Ireland is being discussed in the same context. In such circumstances use "Republic of Ireland" (e.g. "Strabane is at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland").

An exception is where the state forms a major component of the topic (e.g. on articles relating to states, politics or governance) where "Ireland" should be preferred and the island should be referred to as the "island of Ireland" or similar (e.g. "Ireland is a state in Europe occupying most of the island of Ireland").

Per the Linking guideline of the Manual of Style, the names of major geographic features and locations should not be linked. If it is thought necessary to link, in order to establish context or for any other reason, the name of the state should be pipelinked as [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]].

The place of birth, residence and/or death of people who were born, lived or died before 1921 in what today is Northern Ireland should be given simply as "Ireland", and they should not be described as "Northern Irish". "Ireland" should not normally be linked, but if thought necessary should be linked as [[Ireland]], not [[Northern Ireland|Ireland]]. For people who were born, lived or died in Northern Ireland after 1922 use "Northern Ireland", which will not normally be linked and should never be pipelinked.

For people anywhere else in Ireland at any time, "Ireland" should be used. Should pipelinking be considered necessary, [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] can be used after 1922.

If someone used the Irish version of his or her name use that version when naming the article if it enjoys widespread usage among English speakers. If the Irish version does not enjoy widespread usage among English speakers then use the English version when naming the article. In the latter case, refer to the Irish version of the name in the first sentence of the article. Example:

An Irish version of a person's English-language name may be given in the first sentence of the lead of an article on that person if it is a well-known, commonly used name for that person. If there is no commonly used Irish version, it is not appropriate or encyclopaedic to "invent" such names, as this constitutes original research. Also, the mere fact that an Irish name appears in certain sources, such as databases, is not sufficient evidence that it is commonly used.

Where a subject has both an English and an Irish version of their name, use the English version if it is more common among English speakers, but mention the Irish name in the first line of the article. Create a redirect page at the Irish version of the name as appropriate.

In Irish orthography, there is a space between Mac and the rest of the surname, e.g. Seán Mac Eoin, Seán Mac Stíofáin; in English orthography, there is no space between the Mc or Mac and the rest of the surname.

The Ó in surnames always takes an accent and is followed by a space e.g. Tomás Ó Fiaich, not Tomas O'Fiaich.

Mac (son of) is only used for men. Ó (of the family of) is rarely used for women; in most cases use Ní or Nic (Daughter of) or "Mhic" ([Wife] of the son of) or "Uí" (Of the family of) in Irish spellings of women's surnames. (Use O', Mc or Mac for the English forms of women's names.)

In alphabetised lists of names on the English-language Wikipedia follow English-language convention and group all Macs etc. together. (The Irish-language convention is to ignore the Mac, Ó etc. prefix and alphabetise by the first letter of the suffix.) Follow this practice even for names in Irish.

When transcribing from Irish texts which contain lenited letters (the dot above letters indicating séimhiú), reflect modern usage by replacing the dot with an 'h'. Example:

This section deals with the use of flag icons to represent historic and contemporary states on the island of Ireland. Please see also Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Icons.

At this time, neither the island of Ireland nor Northern Ireland has a universally recognised flag. If an organisation uses a flag or banner to represent the island of Ireland or Northern Ireland, use that flag or banner to represent teams, bodies or people under its aegis. If that image is copyrighted, it may be possible to use an older public domain alternative if the older flag or banner is not significantly different to the current one (such as with the IRFU banner). If that is not possible, or if the organisation uses no particular flag or banner, do not use any flag.

A series of templates have been developed to represent Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in sporting and other contexts. These can be seen at: